All posts by Tarek Fayoumi…The Paterson of his Craft!

I am someone who strives to become a professional critic. I watch and review many movies. I view the eyes of movies as something as an art form. I have followed many critics over the years, but once I was thirteen I knew writing film reviews was going to be my passion. I learned from watching multiple episodes of Ebert And Roeper in my teen years, and then in middle school I began writing film reviews for a newspaper club. I am also an avid fan of the arts of Chicago including Theatre, Comedy, and music. Films, however, are my primary focus.
Film reviews

Nope Review

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The newest offering from director Jordan Peele, Nope, is a clever film where UFOs and horror are combined in exhilarating and sometimes humorous ways. Peele wrote and directed Nope, and it is easily one of my favorite films from him.

Nope is set on a horse ranch in a desert area of California. The ranch is owned by brothers Oj and Emerald Haywood, played by Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer, who inherited the ranch after their father was killed by an object falling from the sky. The brothers do freelance cinema work with their horses and in that pursuit they work with Ricky ‘Jupe’ Stark, played by Steven Yeun. When the brothers discover strange UFOs flying around the desert and the ranch they team up with tech salesman Angel Torres, played by Brandon Perea, and documentarian Antlers Holst, played by Michael Wincott, to try to get footage of the UFOs.

The title of the film is also a term that Oj uses when he’s scared, and it’s what many audience members will find themselves saying to the screen during the really scary parts of this horror flick. The combination of a stark desert setting, weird events, many strange backstories, and quirky characters really helps exhibit Peele’s wit and genius for disaster and terror. Nobody plays with tangents better than Peele, and his creativity for horror is stepped up many notches in this mellow but sleek thriller.

Nope was shot with IMAX cameras and that really adds extra layers of adrenaline and heightens the shock value. Peele is truly one who knows how to direct a thriller that is unpredictable, blindsiding, and a technological and unexpected ride to the unknown. Nope soars with color, terror, and a whole lot that is unexpected and spellbinding.

Nope is truly a masterpiece of creative directing. Peele’s work is growing to be more enticing all the time. I had my mind totally warped by Nope. It is a fun summer film that is filled with adrenaline and misdirection. Four stars for Nope.
 

Film reviews

Resurrection Review

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From director Andrew Semans comes an invigorating and intense thriller that will have its audience sink in their seats with suspense. That film is Resurrection. Starring Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth, this suspenseful flick challenged me psychologically. The performance of Hall is where I kept being curious to how much darker her attitude can get. Resurrection is a film that challenges one’s behavior and attitude, and how the past can have dark and irreparable consequences.

Hall is Margaret. She is a successful with an outstanding career. She is also a single mom to her daughter Abbie (played by Grace Kaufman). She is always on top of her game with her career and making sure she is a good mom to Abbie. She has her daily routines to benefit her mental health and stability. All of that comes to halt when David (Roth) comes back into her life. This all makes a fuse go off in Margaret’s head and her mindset to be overprotective (of herself and Abbie) and mentally overwhelming. It becomes increasingly concerning. No one plays the part of overprotective mother better than Hall in this spellbinding work of art.

The stress of Hall’s character will grow awareness of the audience. That is because in every corner she is sensitive, and in every scenario with David she is intense. An element from the past that is unexplained is Why David returns. With Roth as David, and the individual trying to remain neutral. Both the performances of Hall and Roth drive personality clashes to have disturbing outcomes which are invigorating in Resurrection. With Semans also being the writer, he knows how to write a script where tension is on par with the correlation of frustration between Margaret and David throughout the film.

With Hall instilling the overwhelming paranoia throughout Resurrection, the film will grasp viewers attention as her paranoia begins to impact others in the film. It impacts Abbie, it impacts her colleagues, and it also impacts David’s attitude. With David already displaying stalkerish behavior, he still finds a way to maintain his attitude where it does not get him in trouble. He does this so Margaret’s resources from the police can be of little to no help. The paranoia of Hall’s performance only keeps worsening as her resources also choose not to help her.

Resurrection is one of those films that is a visually enticing. It is also original with many engrossing elements. Hall and Roth’s performance is superb. Their protagonist vs. antagonist relationship is Resurrection’s central point of creating Resurrection to be a knockout cinematic experience. There may be light for Margaret, but it may require much more than she anticipates finding the light. Three and a half stars.

Film essays, Film reviews

There Will Be Blood 15 Year Anniversary and Still a Masterpiece

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The 2007 classic There Will Be Blood is in its 15-year anniversary, and to this day it remains a masterpiece. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film was nominated for many awards, and took home two for the winner. It was nominated for best Picture, best directing, best adapted screenplay, best film editing, best in art direction, best in art direction, and best achievement in sound editing. Daniel Day-Lewis won for best actor, and it also won for cinematography. The three categories that I believe should have won also is directing, adapted screenplay and film editing. Those three categories with no win are the factors to why There Will Be Blood is still a true cinema triumph. That is because Anderson has an eye for realistic continuity in his directing of There Will Be Blood.

The ambience of There Will Be Blood is setup where the scenery sets the film. With the film opening with a vast landscape of dryland through the California area in the late 19th century, There Will Be Blood grows an invigorating premise. There is no dialogue for the first few minutes of the film. It is the direction within the environment around Daniel Plainview (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) and his early oil operations. The key to the film’s opening is that there is a vibe for economic success with oiling, but there is also tension that is abound.

The plot of the film begins when the dialogue comes along, and when Daniel makes others believe he has a son (but it is not his son). His son is H.W. (played by Dillon Freasier). Daniel takes H.W. under his arms when H.W. becomes an orphan when he is a baby. Daniel uses H.W. to his advantage to present himself as a widower. He does this to gain more profits and more resources with his growing networking and operations of oiling. The cinematic aspect in the eyes of Anderson’s directing is that Daniel’s success is based off dishonesty and deceit. For Daniel, more profit grows with his advantage to H.W., but also more irreparable consequences start to build.

As the success of Daniel continues to grow, the more suspicion comes to the mind of Eli Sunday (played by Paul Dano). More doom and danger gradually grow. With Eli being a healer of a church, he runs, there starts to be disgust between Eli and Daniel. Daniel makes promises to Eli for positive changes, and it does not happen. On top of that, H.W. sustains hearing damage due to an oil catastrophe. All together none of the problems matter to Daniel. The only factor that is important is his profits. Through the method style of acting from Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood is a dangerous journey of his success being more important than others.

There Will Be Blood is a masterpiece by nature. The master directing of Anderson is seen through its award-winning sequences and the title itself. That is because its title has meaning as well. The tone is paced, and its scoring is faded to layout the dark fundamentals for the oil operation and those who are impacted. It has taken me a couple of times to truly see the amazement of There Will Be Blood, but its just requires patience and aptitude. There is no stopping the darkness of what has begun in There Will Be Blood.

Today of oil and gas pricing being on the rise, that was my motivation to revisit There Will Be Blood. The film has grasped my attention more today because of the early days of oiling being the center focus of the film. Especially in an era where there were no technological advancements of networking. The challenging networking and success come from the dark hatred between Eli and Daniel. The tension is still spectacle as it was fifteen years ago. Four stars.